World Report

Khmer Rouge prison chief first official indicted

Published Wednesday, August 01, 2007

WORLD REPORT

Khmer Rouge prison chief first official indicted

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia -- A former schoolteacher who presided over a torture center was charged Tuesday with crimes against humanity, becoming the first top figure of Cambodia's notorious Khmer Rouge to be indicted for atrocities that led to an estimated 1.7 million deaths.

Duch, 62, also known as Kaing Guek Eav, headed the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh, a virtual slaughterhouse where some 16,000 suspected enemies of the regime were tortured before being taken out to what later became known as "killing fields" near the city.

Cambodia's holocaust during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 reign of terror was the first major case of genocide of the late 20th century. As many as one-fifth of the country's citizens died as a result of the radical policies of the group and its leader, Pol Pot.

Italian movie director Michelangelo Antonioni dies

ROME -- In Michelangelo Antonioni's movies, dialogue was sparse, shots lengthy and action minimal. This abstract style and a ruthless exploration of the malaise of modern man made the Italian director a darling of avant-garde cinema and a celebrated filmmaker across the world.

Antonioni died at 94 in his home, officials said Tuesday, after a career that spanned six decades, an Oscar for lifetime achievement and movies that have become classics such as "L'Avventura," "Blow-Up" and "Zabriskie Point."

Pilot error seen in deadly Brazil crash

WASHINGTON -- Authorities investigating the TAM airlines crash that killed 199 people in Sao Paulo last month believe pilot error caused the tragedy, according to sources familiar with the probe. The finding, if confirmed, would cast doubt on speculation that poor runway conditions were to blame and could lessen pressure on a government that many Brazilians still fault for the country's worst air disaster.

The sources said investigators believe the pilots incorrectly adjusted the plane's engine settings upon landing. A failure to correctly set thrust levels for one of the two engines would explain why the plane veered off the wet runway before crashing into a fuel depot and catching fire.

At least 12 militants killed by troops in Pakistan

MIRAN SHAH, Pakistan -- Government troops backed by helicopter gunships repelled an attack on a military checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing up to 12 militants, an army spokesman said.

Up to 40 militants attacked the checkpoint near Miran Shah, the main town in the North Waziristan tribal district, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Waheed Arshad said.

Gunbattle in Somali capital, other violence kills 13

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- A string of attacks killed at least 13 people around southern Somalia, where government troops and their Ethiopian allies are battling Islamist insurgents, witnesses and officials said Tuesday.

The area has seen little peace since December, when the Ethiopian troops supporting Somalia's fragile government drove out a radical Islamic group that had seized control. The defeated insurgents vowed to wage an Iraq-style guerrilla war until the country becomes an Islamic state.